Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Walking with Daniel Mourek in the Borderlands











we visited jewish graves

we saw a stork had built a best on top of a decaying castle tower
the Czech state cannot afford to maintain its historic monuments having taken them over
from ruling classes of bygones
people also build special pillars to encourage storks to nest

we passed over a lake near another castle that had a drowned village beneath it
people dive to see the submerged village

people here stack wood so beautifully

the czech people have a special fondness for the mythologies of the american west
morna said she heard that a peruvian pan flute troup in prague had learned native american songs because they could make a better living that way
my taxi driver had a dream catcher hanging from his mirror
sascha talks about the czech lovingly as a stubborn tribe
our lunch spot was blocked by an impassible road
we ended up at the country saloon filled with stuffed creatures
the people looked thrilled and horrified to make lunch for 33

daniel is director of the greenways project, an international endeavor to build bike paths
and great signage throughout the greenbelt
hotels that give bike riders basic shelter for their bikes, tools, and a place to wash clothes
get a smiling bike graphic attached to their place
he says that the czech don't like straight paths, but rather choose your own adventure paths

daniel heard an interpreter talking down the brutality of the iron curtain to a bunch of tourists
there is no museum, only a single inadequate sign
he wants to make an interpretive center
the border needs to be remembered
there is a great book that honors the dead with photographic documents:
on the cold war front czechoslovakia 1948-1956 by prokop tomek published by the institute for the study of totalitarian regimes, prague 2009

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